Re-Do

Just been shown by hubby the correct pictures to use...

Day 4: A Picture of You from 10 Years Ago

Sorry, this was supposed to be done over a week ago...ya know, stuff happens (and I'm ADD).

Also, sorry the pictures are so small, I can't figure out how to make them bigger...goes back to the original technical difficulties that made this post so late in the first place.

Day 3: My Favorite Movie

OK...If you know me well at all, you know I'm somewhat of a movie junkie. Right now we can't afford to buy like we used to, which makes me sad, but we just signed up for a free trial month of Netflix, which means we can rent movies for a flat rate each month and watch them. I'm super pumped, although I'm not sure my husband shares my enthusiasm...

So now onto my favorite...really and truly, try though I might, there is no way for me to pick JUST ONE favorite. There are quite a few movies that I could watch over and over again and not get tired of...so I'm very sorry, but here are my top 5 (in no particular order)

#1: Serendipity

I love, love LOVE this movie. I just watched again the other day and found out I still love it, after about the eightieth time watching it. I am a huge believer in fate and it's awesome to me that in the end, fate brings them together! (sorry for the spoiler)

2. Sense and Sensibility

Another one I can just about quote from memory...classic story, great actors...what more can I say?

3: The Best Years of Our Lives


I'm a sucker for classic movies and this is probably my favorite of all classics...It's about men coming home from World War II and the struggles they have while adjusting to civilian life. It sounds like a yawnfest, but it's superb.

4.


This movie made me laugh soooooooooooooooooo hard the first time I watched it. And again, I can watch it multiple times and not get tired of it, always hearing a new line that makes me laugh (we own it)

5. Last of the Mohicans


I like this movie because it was before Daniel Day Lewis went all weird and because in it, he's really hot. I mean smokin. Yum.

As I was compiling my list, I thought of several other movies I love but that just didn't quite make the top 5. Of course as I watch more movies, the list continues to evolve...

Day 2: My Day (In a Nutshell)

OK, so here's today...it's a typical workday for me, so things might sound kind of boring...

5:25 am-I am awake before my alarm due to the fact that my dog is snoring so loud that at first I thought it was Andrew...I go through my normal shower, hair, makeup, breakfast routine that happens before work.

6:35 am-I arrive for work a little early, which is good because I did absolutely no planning over the weekend and I have no idea what I'm doing with the kiddos. Therefore, I have time to make up some morning work and put it on the Promethean Board, make a few copies (oh wait, the copier is waaay screwed up), I mean come up with a plan B for my Reading lesson.

8:05-10:20-The kids slowly trickle in, finish their morning work, and we get through reading with little or no sidebar discussions about "one time, me and my mom went to the store and...". You'd think they'd run out of those stories...oh no, they are indeed endless, and as pointless as they sound.

10:20-12:15-So, Tuesdays and Thursdays are crazy days because in addition to the kids' normal 45 minute Specials time (my planning time), they also have 45 minutes of Spanish class, which takes up their Recess and means we go straight from Specials to Spanish to Lunch.

During this time, I make some copies on the copier downstairs in the office (which seems to be the only one in the building that works currently), put together their Tuesday folders (which will go home on Wednesday because of the holiday), socialize a little, go to a Problem Based Learning meeting (where I learn nothing, since I have no clue what the lady is talking about...I haven't been trained yet), aaaannnnddd....I forget what else. But just know this is an extremely busy time for me still, even without the kids there.

During lunch, I get about 15 minutes to eat once I make sure everyone has been through the line and gotten food, knows where to sit and have heated up one of the little darling's Hot Pocket, which goes with his mini doughnuts and school lunch (funny enough, he's the smallest kid in my class).

12:15-2:50-After lunch, I do read-aloud with the class. Then we go through a whirlwind math lesson, and watch a short video on Ecosystems and write what we learned on a chart. Thrilling, I know.

2:50-3:30-Dismissal. Ugh. All goes well until I leave the class to take the bus riders down to the gym, where they always wait for their buses. We get all the way there and one of my special little girls realizes she's forgotten her lunch box. She says her mom will be mad she forgot in again, whereupon I suggest that I just go get it for her, since I don't want her to risk missing her bus. I should mention here that dismissal in the gym, for whatever reason is 90% of the time a complete zoo and the fifth grade team (including me) usually stays to help out until most, if not all, of the buses have gone.

3:30-4:00-I run around some more like a chicken with its head cut off and leave at 4:00 when I can't figure out what I need to do next. Yeah, shoulda gotten morning work ready for tomorrow morning when I have a meeting until 8:30 and my class will be watched by one of the specials teachers. Whoops.

4:00-5:00-Run a couple of errands on the way home, including pick up prescription and grocery store.

5:00-6:00-Dinner!

6:00-7:30-I continue running around, vacuuming, doing laundry and dishes and Lord knows what else, until I finally stop and sit down and realize I've been cleaning for an hour and a half. Boo.

Now I just need to make our lunches for tomorrow and fold the laundry in the dryer...in which my husband has just informed me I might find his iPhone headphones because he neglected to take them out of his pockets...of course I should know by now to check his pockets first, but by golly I guess I just seem to have other things on my mind that make me forget to...

Day 1

Ugh.

OK...I'm finally breaking down...

Now that all my girlfriends are about halfway through their "50 Days" of blogging, I guess really I have to bite the bullet and start the challenge myself. Actually, if I really think about it, this will be good for me, as I really have a hard time keeping up with my blog. I guess because I don't think my material is interesting enough for people to want to keep up with.

So here's the list:

Day 1: Introduce yourself
Day 2: A bulleted list of everything that happened in your day
Day 3: Your favorite movie
Day 4: A photo of you taken over 10 years ago
Day 5: A letter to your crush
Day 6: A list of what you ate today
Day 7: A youtube video you find funny
Day 8: A photo of you taken recently
Day 9: List some of your favorite blogs
Day 10: A letter to a person who has caused you pain
Day 11: Share your favorite recipe(s)
Day 12: Self portrait
Day 13: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 14: A song from your childhood
Day 15: A letter to someone you wish you could meet
Day 16: Provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes
Day 17: A photo that makes you sad
Day 18: Set or share a goal
Day 19: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 20: A letter to someone that changed your life
Day 21: Your favorite television program
Day 22: A photo that makes you happy
Day 23: Share one of your favorite tunes
Day 24: Time to face morph
Day 25: Someone you judged by their first impression
Day 26: Favorite books
Day 27: A talent of yours
Day 28: Favorite places to shop
Day 29: Your favorite color
Day 30: The friendliest person you knew for only 1 day
Day 31: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 32: A photo you took
Day 33: What you're craving right now
Day 34: Your favorite quote
Day 35: A letter to an ex
Day 36: Some hobbies of yours
Day 37: A song that you like to dance to
Day 38: A photo of your parents
Day 39: Zodiac sign and do you think it fits your personality
Day 40: A deceased person you wish you could talk to
Day 41: Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 42: A bad habit you have
Day 43: A picture of your favorite place in the world
Day 44: Something that fascinates you and why
Day 45: A letter to yourself a year ago
Day 46: Photos of personal things in your life (pets, family, house, etc)
Day 47: Birthday wish list
Day 48: A photo of you right now
Day 49: Hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days
Day 50: A letter to your reflection in the mirror

So, today I'm supposed to introduce myself.

Well, most of you (actually pretty sure all of you) know me pretty well. If you have been keeping up with my blog, you pretty much know all that is going on in my life right now.

Although I will add, currently the big thing with me is couponing. I loooove finding great deals and coming home and showing Andrew. My skills are still developing, but I've been pretty proud of how I've done so far. And it's fun searching (well looking at other people's blogs) for the deals.

Anywho, I digress...

Tomorrow: my day in a nutshell (including work, this should be interesting!)

Current Crafting Crazes

Ok. I have to confess...I'm a crafting junkie. I am always starting a new hobby or resurrecting old ones I haven't touched in years. The latest craze: crochet. Now, I have not ever truly given up crochet, in fact in the last few years, I have finished some really nice baby blankets for friends. Now I have convinced myself it's time to move on to something more challenging. Like sweaters. Yeah, I know that makes me a grade-A, number one dork. But hey, it gets cold in NC and I know for a fact my cheap-*&^ hubby (love you!) will have the heat down at some ridiculously low temp and I don't want to freeze to death. Nor do I have the cash to go out an buy a bunch of new sweaters. So in an endeavor to save money for the greater good, I plan on branching out and trying something really ambitious and seeing if it's worth it.

All that being said, I've been looking up patterns on the internet. Wow. There are some doozies...


Oooohhhh yyyyeeeaaahhhh................

How about a little something for the kiddies?



This one is called, no joke, Bartleby the Rat Creature.

And I have found towel toppers, scrunchies, jewelry and headbands...makes me feel a lot less geeky for only wanting to make some sweaters...

Blessings

So, I'm totally stealing inspiration from my friend Hannah's blog...in light of the fantabulous summer we have had, I though I would share what's happening in our lives since our big move!

*Andrew started his Pathology residency at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. We have gotten all moved and settled into the first home that is truly ours.

*I have been hired as a fifth grade teacher at a beautiful, new school that is less than fifteen minutes drive from our home. The building is sparkling clean because it's so new and I will have access to some amazing technology that I have never been able to teach with before!

*We are finally able to begin paying back our loans from school!

*Our new house is within two hours driving distance from Asheville, one of our favorite places to visit and home to our good friends, Rick and Kristen.

I personally am enjoying the last part of my summer before going back to work and taking time to appreciate everything God has blessed us with this year.

This and That

Ugh, I know. It's been a year since my pitiful little blog has been updated. I'm sorry...It's like whenever I used to get a new journal and would write in it faithfully every day for about a week and then...well you know.

Since so many people share recipes on their blogs, I thought I would share some too. Cooking is a hobby of mine (along with many other things), and I'm always looking for yummy, easy recipes that don't take a lot of time or ingredients to make. SO tonight was a new one: baked ziti. Quite yummy and paired with meatballs, so it wasn't a complete carbfest.


Ingredients:
1 box of ziti noodles
1 jar of marinara sauce
1 onion
a few cloves of garlic (the number is really up to your personal preference)
some fresh basil (again, as much or as little as you want)
1 package of Parmesan cheese (the good kind in the zip-lock bag, not the tube kind)
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese

*Disclaimer: I never said it was lo-calorie
*Hence the walk we took the dog for this evening, and we both skipped dessert (thus far)

Cook the noodles according to the package.

Meanwhile, (in a saucepan) saute the onions about 5 minutes and then add the garlic and basil for another 2-3 minutes. Sort of watch the garlic to make sure it doesn't burn, because this makes it bitter.

Turn off the heat on the onions and throw in the whole jar of sauce. Mix this with the noodles and the Parmesan. Put everything in a 9x13" casserole and top it with the mozzarella. Bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the top is slightly brown and it's bubbling. The meatballs are easy too. Mix a pound of lean ground beef with a dash of garlic salt, some pepper, an egg and about 1/4 cup breadcrumbs. Shape it into balls and cook over medium high heat about 3 minutes on each side or until they aren't pink in the middle anymore.


For lack of anything better at the moment to put in my blog, I figured it couldn't hurt to put something useful up. The next recipe I want to try either tonight or tomorrow are Muffins That Taste Like Doughnuts from Tastykitchen.com. I plan on making them mini and then freezing half of them, since honestly I'll probably end up eating most of them myself, what with being home all day and hubby not being much of a sweets fella (more's the pity, but what can ya do?).